Switzerland eases egg import restrictions to meet rising demand

Federal Council facilitates egg imports due to rising demand Keystone-SDA

The Swiss government will allow an extra 240 million eggs to be imported into the country with reduced tariffs from May 1.

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The Federal Council is allowing more cheaper egg imports at the request of the Swiss egg industry to meet increased demand. The quota will be increased by 15,000 tonnes to a total of 36,000 tonnes.

+ Egg shortages force food industry to think outside the coop 

The additional quota will be divided into two tranches in order to absorb the strong demand during the Christmas period. The first tranche of 9,750 tonnes will be released from May 1, the second of 5,250 tonnes from September 1.

The egg trade has promised to take on the quantity of eggs agreed with domestic producers, it was reported.

The demand for eggs is increasing in Switzerland. Last year, 209 eggs were consumed per capita. This made 2025 the first year with a per capita consumption of more than 200 eggs. A total of around 1.9 billion eggs reached the market in 2025. Compared to 2023, demand was 11% higher.

However, more and more eggs are also being produced domestically. In 2025, domestic production increased by almost 7% compared to the previous year, to 1.2 billion eggs.

Translated from German by AI/mga

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